China and ROK players showed their power in the quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Championship 2013, eight pairs or individual players from China and four from the ROK making it to the semis.

 

 

In the men’s singles, China’s star Lin Dan pulled out with an injury, disappointing many fans who were keen to see him in action. The most memorable match was that  between China’s top young player Gao Huan and Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia; Gao took the first game with some fine attacking play but Chong showed he was no pushover and clawed his way back into the match after getting used to his opponent’s tactics and adjusting his own;with Gao’s mood also affected by a few controversial call from the line judges, Chong took the match 18-21,21-15,21-19, in doing so preventing China from occupying all four places in the men’s singles semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Du Yu Peng will play Wang Zheng Ming and Chen Long will play Chong Wei Feng.

 

Top seeds in the men’s doubles Ko Sung Hyun/Lee Yong Dae beat their Japanese opponents in straight games and will play Malaysian pair V Shem GOH/Khim Wah LIM in the semi-finals. Another ROK pair, Kim Ki Jung/Kim Sa Rang, had a tough fight against dogged Thai opponents but came through to win in three games 21-16, 21-23,21-17; they will play the tournament’s No.2 seeds Hiroyuki ENDO/ Kenichi HAYAKAWA of Japan in the semi-finals. 

 

In the women’s singles, Chinese Taipei’s hope Tai Tzu Ying got off to a good start by taking the first game 21-19 against No.2 seed, China’s Wang Yi Han, but was unable to take advantage of her lead to take the second game, going down after losing the next two games 18-21,10-21.  

 

New pairing Ko Sung Hyun/ Kim Ha Na seem to have found their form and played very well in the quarter-finals against Japanese opponents; in contrast to their somewhat chaotic play in their first match, they showed much improved mutual understanding and defended and attacked in an orderly way. They took the match 21-14,21-17 and will play Indonesia’s Fran KURNIAWAN/ Shendy Puspa IRAWATI in the semi-finals.

 

Want to know who will be the final winners at the Badminton Asia Championship 2013? For the latest tournament news, keep a close eye on VICTOR’s official website: www.victorsport.com

 

( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )